Wheels - question

[Catrin]

I hope my question will make sense, I am unsure how to word this. The main reason I am getting the Gunnar Sport is to have something lighter and more responsive on club rides. That being said, because of my physical needs the frame I am considering is a more relaxed frame meant for long-distance riding. It is not, quite, the slacker frame that my LHT is, but it isn't a traditional roadie frame either.

My LHT has bomb-proof wheels and is as stable as can be. I am not using the bike for loaded touring and may never actually do more than light credit card touring with it. I do love the wheel-set however and love how stable it is.

Considering the wheel-set was built for use on a fully loaded touring bike and, probably, for someone heavier than I, I have a question. If I were to get a second set of wheels that were lighter and more appropriate for my style of riding, would I notice a significant difference in how the bike performs if I went with a skinner 26 inch tire? I do have rack and fenders on my LHT, but they don't weigh much at all...

If this would make a significant difference, then having two wheel-sets might be an interesting option....perhaps.

[indysteel]

What's the narrowest tire you can run on your LHT wheels? Can you even run those on the Gunnar Sport you have in mind?

You will notice some difference if you were to put skinnier tires on your current wheel set, but you'll notice a heck of a lot more if you were to get a set of handbuilt 650 ccs. There is a world of difference between my handbuilts and the stock pair of Mavics that came with my bike. Of course, they weren't cheap either. I'm not sure how much difference you'd feel between your current wheels and a stock factory-built set that's on the lower end of cost.

I will say this. I find swapping out wheels and/or tires between bikes to be a PITA. If I could afford a dedicated set of wheels, that's the way I would go. But the first thing you need to resolve is whether you can even run the 26s on the Gunnar.

[Catrin]

What's the narrowest tire you can run on your LHT wheels? Can you even run those on the Gunnar Sport you have in mind?

You will notice some difference if you were to put skinnier tires on your current wheel set, but you'll notice a heck of a lot more if you were to get a set of handbuilt 650 ccs. There is a world of difference between my handbuilts and the stock pair of Mavics that came with my Bianchi. Of course, they weren't cheap either. I'm not sure how much difference you'd feel between your current wheels and a stock factory-built set that's on the lower end of cost.

I will say this. I find swapping out wheels and/or tires between bikes to be a PITA. If I could afford a dedicated set of wheels, that's the way I would go. But the first thing you need to resolve is whether you can even run the 26s on the Gunnar.

I am trying to find out how skinny I can go with the tires for the LHT, I know I can go down at least to 1 inch (currently running 1.5 inch Conti City Contact tires)

If I were to go this route, then I would get a good set of hand-built wheels dedicated for club rides and hill training, and reserve my bomb-proof wheels for actual touring or all-day meandering. This would be less expensive than a second bike and is at least worth considering.

The smallest size Gunnar Sport does take 26 inch wheels, but I am unsure if that would fit me - the TT is 500 while the TT on my LHT is 508...but of course we are talking about a different geometry. If I take anything than the smallest Gunnar Sport size then I would have 700cc tires...

[JennK13]

If you were to ask my DH he would tell you that there is a significant difference in riding skinnier, lighter wheels/tires - he would say this as I dropped him big time simply by changing wheelsets. I was surprised at the wide range of tire sizes that can fit on a wheel - my stock set takes anything from 23s to 35s. I really notice the difference going from my skinny set to my fat cross tires both in responsiveness and pedal weight.

I also second having two wheelsets if you're going to be changing them frequently. I have cross tires on my stock set, and skinny road tires on a set of Eastons I picked up. I did change my road set once race season was over and winter set in to a more hearty and weather resistant tire with torn proof, slime filled tubes (my race set is pretty light) and these will stay on until the beginning of summer or my first tri of the season. With snow, it's so easy for me to just swap out wheelsets to my cross tires to hit the trails.

The second wheelset changed my bike enough to where it does substitute as another bike. I'm significantly faster with the lighter set, and my bike can now take me anywhere from a triathlon race, to fast group rides, to trail rides and cross races.

[indysteel]

I'm confused now. Are you thinking of getting a second set of lighter wheels for the LHT and foregoing the Gunnar altogether? I thought the point of your question was to figure out whether you could use your LHT wheels (with skinnier tires) on the Gunnar, but perhaps I have that wrong.

[Catrin]

I'm confused now. Are you thinking of getting a second set of lighter wheels for the LHT and foregoing the Gunnar altogether? I thought the point of your question was to figure out whether you could use your LHT wheels (with skinnier tires) on the Gunnar, but perhaps I have that wrong.

I am considering a second set of lighter wheels and putting off the Gunnar until a later time. I have not changed my mind up putting down the deposit on the Gunnar next month, but a discussion on this very thing on the LHT email list has caused me to wonder if I should at least consider this option.

I do not think that I will change my mind on the Gunnar, I really do want it, but this seems at least worthy of consideration.

Sorry for any confusion :o

Added: Just read a love-fest for the Gunnar Sport for long distance rides over at BF Rando/LD forum :)

[DebW]

You can probably put a set of 650c wheels on the LHT, depending on how much adjustability you have in the height of the brake pads. But every time you switch from 26 to 650c, you'll have to adjust the brake pads up or down. If you have canti brakes, this might be more than you want to deal with. Alternatively, you could run 26" rims with narrower tires, but 26" rims don't come as narrow or light was 650s. There's a chart on Sheldon Brown's site that will allow you to judge how narrow you can go with tires based on the width of your rims.

[Catrin]

I think that I will eventually get the lighter wheels and tires for Ms. Explorer, but the Gunnar comes first. I had a good talk with my LBS today, and he cautioned me that while we know a lighter wheel-set would indeed take weight off my beloved LHT, that there would be no real way of knowing what that difference would be nor how it would feel until after the purchase. Considering my bike takes 26-inch wheels they would need to be hand-built - obviously most of the 26-inch wheels out there are for mountain bikes and would still be over-built for me so it would need to be custom.

I do want to do this, but in the end, I really want the Gunnar Sport. I think that I had to consider this - but in the end I think that I will be glad that I made the leap for a true light-weight steel bike and I can always upgrade the LHT at a later time. I can't turn it into something that it isn't :) I love my rock-solid LHT but she will never be leaping over the hills :D

Thanks IndySteel, Jenn and DebW for your thoughts on this. Ideally I will be able to fit Gunnars smallest Sport - which does take 26 inch wheels, but I think it is probably too small for me. My fitter is taking some measurements from my LHT today to send to Waterford so he can have the Waterford fit bike set up for me in 2.5 weeks :)